The following Australian provisional patent applications are hereby incorporated by cross-reference. For the purposes of location and identification, US patent applications identified by their US patent application serial numbers (USSN) are listed alongside the Australian applications from which the US patent applications claim the right of priority.
Not applicable.
The present invention further relates to the field of printer technology and in particular discloses a print media roll and ink in a replaceable cartridge for suitable use in an image printer or the like.
Recently, digital printing technology has been proposed as a suitable replacement for traditional camera and photographic film techniques. The traditional film and photographic techniques rely upon a film roll having a number of pre-formatted negatives which are drawn past a lensing system and onto which is imaged a negative of a image taken by the lensing system. Upon the completion of a film roll, the film is rewound into its container and forwarded to a processing shop for processing and development of the negatives so as to produce a corresponding positive set of photos.
Unfortunately, such a system has a number of significant drawbacks. Firstly, the chemicals utilised are obviously very sensitive to light and any light impinging upon the film roll will lead to exposure of the film. They are therefore required to operate in a light sensitive environment where the light imaging is totally controlled. This results in onerous engineering requirements leading to increased expense. Further, film processing techniques require the utilising of a xe2x80x9cnegativexe2x80x9d and it subsequently processing onto a xe2x80x9cpositivexe2x80x9d film paper through the utilisation of processing chemicals and complex silver halide processing etc. This is generally unduly cumbersome, complex and expensive. Further, such a system through its popularity has lead to the standardisation on certain size film formats and generally minimal flexibility is possible with the aforementioned techniques.
Recently, all digital cameras have been introduced. These camera devices normally utilise a charge coupled device (CCD) or other form of photosensor connected to a processing chip which in turn is connected to and controls a media storage device which can take the form of a detachable magnetic card. In this type of device, the image is captured by the CCD and stored on the magnetic storage device. At some later time, the image or images which have been captured are down loaded to a computer device and printed out for viewing. The digital camera has the disadvantage that access to images is non-immediate and the further post processing step of loading onto a computer system is required, the further post processing often being a hindrance to ready and expedient use.
Therefore, there remains a general need for an improved form of camera picture image production apparatus which is convenient, simple and effective in operation. Further, there also remains a need for a simple form of portable, immediate print media on which images can be effectively reproduced.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative form of image creation media which alleviates some of the aforementioned disadvantages.
In accordance with the first aspect of the present invention there is provided a print media and ink supply means adapted to supply a printing mechanism with ink and printing media upon which the ink is to be deposited, said media and ink supply means including a roll of media rolled upon a media former within said media and ink supply means and at least one ink reservoir integrally formed within said media and ink supply means and adapted to be connected to said printing mechanism for the supply of ink and printing media to said printing mechanism.